Jesus Brings Peace!
John 14:27
Good Morning to all of God’s People from the Voices Of Hope Evangelistic Team! It’s such a blessing to be able to worship with you today wherever you are! I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him and to share His message with the world through today’s technology!
We began a new series on the four Sundays of Advent and last Sunday, which was the First Sunday of Advent, we looked at the theme of Hope. The theme for the Second Sunday of Advent is Peace and the title of today's Message is “Jesus Brings Peace!” Our scripture comes from the New Testament Book of John, Chapter 14, verse 27 and you may want to turn there in your Bible.
The Great Chicago Fire occurred in 1871. Over 300 people died and another 100,000 were left homeless. Tragedies like this one bring out the best in some people. One such person was Horatio Gates Spafford. Mr. Spafford was an attorney who lost a lot of real-estate in the fire. To make matters even worse, his son died about the same time.
Despite his great personal loss, Mr. Spafford unselfishly helped others who were homeless and grief-stricken because of the fire. Because of his generosity and service, he was well known throughout Chicago as a sincere, devout Christian.
About two years later, in November 1873, Mr. Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. Mr. Spafford was a good friend of D. L. Moody, and his family decided to meet Moody on one of his evangelistic campaigns in England; from there the family would travel on to Europe. However, just before they were to leave Mr. Spafford was unexpectedly detained by urgent business concerns in Chicago. His wife, Anna, and their daughters went ahead to England and he planned to catch up with them as soon as possible. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on that trip. Just off Newfoundland, the ship collided with an English sailing vessel and sunk within twenty minutes, Anna Spafford was one of the 47 passengers who survived. Tragically all four of their daughters were part of the 226 who died.
Anna Spafford’s heartbreaking telegram to her husband simply read: "Saved alone." The grieving father immediately set sail for England to join his grief-stricken wife. As the ship that he was traveling on passed the approximate location where his daughters had drowned, Horatio Spafford penned these words.
"When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know; "It is well, it is well with my soul."
Tho’ Satan Should buffet, tho’ trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul. It is well, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul."
The peace that Horatio experienced through it all is not a peace that comes from this world, it is a peace that can only come from and through Jesus Christ. Jesus talked about this Peace in today’s scripture, John 14:27 which says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, You are the God who gives peace. This second week of Advent causes us to remember that because of Jesus we can experience a Christmas free from turmoil and chaos. Regardless of our circumstances or our situations, You offer us peace that passes understanding.
That first Christmas, when You sent your Son, You sent the One who is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Even the angels cried out, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” The angels knew Your purpose. They knew the gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love that Christmas held. They recognized that the fullness of God was wrapped in the tiny flesh of an infant as You humbled yourself and dwelt among us. Emmanuel, God with us as the baby Jesus.
You sent Your Son to redeem the world and You will send Him again to be our Judge. Give us grace to imitate Jesus in the humility and purity of His first coming so that when He comes again, we may be ready to greet Him with joyful love and firm faith.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen
On the second Sunday of Advent, the second purple candle, sometimes called the “Bethlehem Candle,” is lit. This candle symbolizes the manger where Jesus was born. The manger is a vivid reminder of the great lengths to which the King of Creation went, humbling Himself for His people. He deserved a kingly procession into the city with much fanfare. Instead, we see Him born in a manger, living in poverty with no place to lay His head, and entering the city on a donkey as He makes His way to the cross. As we prepare for the coming of Jesus, we remember that Jesus is our hope and our peace.
From the prophet Isaiah 9:6:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
The word “peace” is common in the Bible. The Hebrew “shalom” is translated over two hundred times in the Old Testament and nearly one hundred times in the New Testament. The Hebrew idea of “peace” is an overall feeling of well-being, often in relationship between God and His people. When we talk about “peace” in the biblical context, this is what we mean.
Romans 5:1 says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We were once at enmity with God. But God has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of the cross. Christ died for us. We believe this; therefore, we are reconciled.
We reflect at Christmas time that the Prince of Peace came to earth as a newborn child in a manger in Bethlehem. The Word had become flesh (John 1:14). The promise of peace came during the night in the most inconspicuous of ways. How could this helpless child born under the meanest of circumstances bring peace to anyone? A few shepherds heard the heavenly hosts proclaim “Peace on Earth.” The word “hosts” in this context means “armies.” The Army of the Lord was proclaiming “peace” and not “war.” This Jesus who suffered so much in His earthly life is the one whom God approved to bring peace.
The angels are saying that through the birth of Christ, true peace will come to the earth. His coming means peace with God, and peace given by God through Christ. The angel is not wishing us peace in the way we might say to each other in a Christmas card, “may you have peace in this season”.
It is an announcement that true and lasting peace will come on earth to the hearts of those who are redeemed in Christ...who through faith become the children of God.
For those who remain outside of Him, the earth and their own lives remain in a state of disorder and strife.
As it says in “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” there was no peace on earth. As far as the world is concerned, this is true. When we look around at our world today, we don’t see a lot of peace. There is unrest in many nations where the people are mad at the governments and are fed up with dictatorships. There are also constant threats of wars between countries and areas such as North and South Korea and Israel and Palestine. There are the drug wars in Mexico that often cripple that nation. There is unrest in our schools among students with bullying and now cyber-bullying where kids use the internet to attack other kids in their schools and ostracize them. And there is unrest in families around the world, whether it is between extended family or between brothers and sisters or husbands and wives. Everywhere we look we see evidence of a devastating lack of peace.
Our municipalities have laws against disturbing the peace.
Nations that have long been at odds with one another have also long talked about peace. When can they have peace? How can they have peace? But still they don’t find peace.
No peace treaty that man has ever devised has been kept. In man there is no peace because man has never been at peace with God; if there is not peace with God, then there can be no peace in the soul. Man was made to worship his Creator; when he rejects his Creator and goes his way, then he also rejects peace; his path is one of turmoil from within which affects everything without.
Now let’s look at Romans 5:1 again. We who have been justified by faith have peace. It doesn’t say “We will have peace.” We have peace. We will come to the fullness of peace when Christ returns. One day we will come to know perfect peace away from this world and its woes when we are taken to live eternally with the Prince of Peace, but until then we can have and know Christ’s peace in us.
This peace come only from God and can never be reproduced apart from God. Jesus came to earth over two thousand years ago. He came from God, He is God and He humbled Himself as a little baby born in a manger so that we could know peace. We can know peace even in this world, peace from the sins that cause us to be doomed and peace in the midst of these storms we live in. We can lean on the truths from Scriptures and seek to know Christ more and more. We need to yield completely to Him. Not our will, but His will.
On that first Christmas night, God made the way for us to have peace WITH Him, through faith in the One He sent to save us. That’s what Paul was talking about in Romans 5.
In addition, God made the way for us to enjoy the peace OF God in our daily walk, as we walk in obedience to the One Who sacrificed all for us, and did so with pleasure.
On that holy night in Bethlehem, God gave us peace with Himself, and through Him, peace with ourselves and others.
Having peace WITH God is so simple that many miss it. It has been provided. The work has been done and done perfectly. It comes all from God and none from us. It comes simply by faith in the shed blood of Christ and His resurrection. That is what Paul called Justification. Right standing. Peace with God.
Peace is the fruit of obedience to God.
- We are called to live by faith.
- We are called to worship God.
- We are called to live in awe of Him as He is indeed God Almighty.
- We are called to refrain from evil and to do good.
- We are called to do the works of God.
- We are called to speak the words of God.
- We are called to pursue peace even in persecution.
We can find God’s peace; it is a fruit of our growing relationship with Christ; it grows inside us where no sword or word can touch it.
Christ said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the children of God.”
In the wake of all that is going on this holiday season, are our actions dispensing peace to the lives of others or are our actions dispensing that which takes away from peace in the lives of others.
For us and our families, may Christ be the Prince of Peace in our Christmas. We need to partake of real peace. Sit down by yourself and read the Christmas story out of the Bible. If you have children at home, sit down with all the family; if they are young children, read it out of a children’s version that tells the true meaning of Christmas.
Find a peaceful time to be together just as a family, walking or driving around looking at Christmas lights for a little peace. And as you do, remind one another that Christ is the light of the world who brings peace into the world.
Jesus as the light of the world came to lead mankind out of the darkness of sin, to bring peace where sin had brought problem, to bring hope where sin had brought hopelessness and to bring light into the darkness of mankind.
The peace that comes from Jesus Christ can bring resolve to all situations, circumstances and relationships and it can bring peace to our own inner turmoil. It is a peace that comes from the ultimate peacemaker Himself.
We can start to realize this peace through a personal relationship with Jesus. Have you acknowledged Him as your Lord and Savior this morning? If you’ve never accepted Christ into your life, then this is your opportunity. You can receive God’s grace and begin a relationship with Jesus today.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
And I John 5:13 tells us: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Jesus has provided the gift of salvation to us which gives us not only hope for today, but hope for eternity.
In Romans 10:9, we are told that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
We receive salvation when we:
(1) Repent of our sins.
(2) Trust Jesus Christ as our Savior.
(3) Confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, invite Him into your life right now.
Or maybe there are those who are far away from Jesus. Have you allowed your comfortable, personally focused desires to act as an eclipse between you and God? Is Jesus obscured or completely blacked out of your life? Do you miss him?
All it takes is to open yourself and say "I want things to be different. I know things need to be different. I know what’s wrong, what doesn’t belong and I invite You, Jesus, to come and change me. I want you back."
When we turn back to Jesus in repentance, when we ask for forgiveness, intending to live a godly life, God’s mercy reaches out to us with a message of love. God is a God of mercy, of redemption, of restoration and of renewal. Just come by faith to the throne of grace to receive it. He is waiting for you with open arms. Repent all over again and get back to fulfilling God’s plan in and through your life.
In closing, I’ll share this story with you.
A missionary to Japan told a story of when he was riding a train one late night across town. Everyone was being fairly dignified, but then a drunk man came on board. His face was red and he was looking for a fight. He was catcalling women and trying to provoke men to fight him. Nobody responded except for an old man, who laughed and smiled.
“What’s so funny, old man?” the drunk man responded. The old man shook his head and said, “Oh, nothing. You see, I remember a time when I was about as drunk as you, I went home to my garden, tripped and fell into one of my bushes where I spent the night. It was very funny; tell me why did you get drunk tonight? The night that I did that, my wife had died in the hospital.”
Soon, the drunk man and the older gentleman were having a conversation which led the drunk man to sobbing on the old man’s shoulder.
The two of them got up and left the train together. It was only then that one of the passengers leaned over to the missionary and said, “You know, I didn’t recognize him before, but that was one of the greatest Aikido fighters in our country. He could have probably knocked him out very easily.” The missionary responded, a little confused, “Well of course, the old man probably couldn’t take a hit very well.” The passenger responded, “no, I am talking about the old man.”
That old man knew what it was to train for battle, to train for a fight, but somewhere along the way he had learned to train for peace. He had learned peace, and it was his first response.
This Christmas we will be around friends, family and church family and there will be times we will have opportunities to be a peace maker or a peace breaker. Will we choose to say a kind word that will promote peace or will we use words that will tear someone down. We as Christians have the ultimate peace maker living in us and the angel said that starry night so long ago “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Peace is not for when we get to heaven, but needs to begin with us here on earth. “Goodwill towards men” is a lifestyle that all Christians should partake in.
Let us pray: Thank You, Father, for being a perfect Heavenly Father for us, for sending us Your Son to save us from our sins, and for putting Your Holy Spirit into each one of us so that we are never without Your presence. Help us to depend on You, to trust in Your truth, and to serve like You. Help us to find time to slow down this Christmas season; say “no” to the things that distract us from Jesus and say “yes” to the gift that You want us to experience. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.